Architectural materials can be useful for a wide variety of purposes such as surface coverings, e.g. walls, counters, floors, etc. Typical architectural materials can include bathroom and shower panels, wainscoting, and the like. These materials can be formed of plywood, pressboard, vinyl, fiberglass composite, thermoplastic sheet, or other composite materials such as cultured marble and solid surface materials. The various materials may have colorants or colored particles mixed into the material to provide the appearance of marble, granite, or other effects intended to simulate natural materials. Alternatively, thermoplastic sheets may have a pattern painted or printed on the outer surface. Unfortunately, these sheets tend to have an appearance that is two-dimensional, most often clearly appears to be a manufactured material, and the surface patterns are vulnerable to scratching and marring. In addition, available materials and designs are limited due to exposure to wide temperature fluctuations and moisture levels. Adhesives and printing substrates used in laminate material manufacture do not have the moisture resistance sufficient to satisfy the demands of certain architectural applications.
Therefore, materials and methods which provide improved temperature and moisture resistance and are capable of providing more convincing appearance of natural materials continue to be sought.
These drawings are provided to illustrate various aspects of the invention and are not intended to be limiting of the scope in terms of dimensions, materials, configurations, arrangements or proportions unless otherwise limited by the claims. In particular, relative thicknesses and dimensions are for convenience in illustrating the invention rather than scale.